Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Island Roo]

My eggs are bigger with FF ...
Ouch

Just had to share this picture after I found these eggs in the nests today. Not a optical illusion - my hand is almost touching the other eggs.

 

[bruceh]

yes i have . i have also tried the mash. not a lot just enough on a spoon to see if was sour. i also when i am sick add a little acv in my tea. gives me the effect of drinking fresh coconut milk.

 

[bruceh]

My eggs are bigger with FF ...
Ouch

Just had to share this picture after I found these eggs in the nests today. Not a optical illusion - my hand is almost touching the other eggs.

yep i get some big eggs too. ps. i love b.c. been to vancouver many times. love granville island.

 

[Island Roo]

yep i get some big eggs too. ps. i love b.c. been to vancouver many times. love granville island.

I have some doubles before but this was a record size for my hens.

I hope all you folks (and your flocks) in the east are getting thru that storm intact

 

[Costa Rica Art]

We keep them because of the grasshoppers! Down here in Texas they get BIG. Before I got the guineas you would literally get bombarded by these horrid bugs every time you walked from the house to the barn. Nothing like walking outside and getting a 3-4 inch grasshopper tangled in your hair. Now with a flock of 12 we rarely see the grasshoppers and those that do survive are small. Even our neighbors about a quarter-mile away, say they have fewer grasshoppers as well, just from our flock. A half-mile from us the bugs are still just as thick as ever. I agree with you that they are ugly and LOUD. My husband hates them, but puts also puts up with them for the bug control. They prefer bugs to any grains, so they eat very little feed. They just forage further when the bugs get scarcer. They are also supposed to be good for snake control. Some people say they can actually gang up on snakes and kill them, I think the snakes just leave the area to get away from the noise !

The year before we got the birds we killed 5 copperheads, this year we have killed one. Mine are more wild than domesticated. I give them a secure place to sleep at night, in exchange they keep the bugs and snakes away. I LOVE my guineas!!!!

Besides grasshoppers they rid our place of ants, we have leak cutter ants the can eat all the leaves off a good size tree in a couple of days. In California we had rattle snakes till we got the guineas, no more snakes. One day there was a 5' rattler coming up the driveway till the guineas spotted it. Remember the old western movies where the Indians circled the wagon train, that is just what the guineas did, one would distract the snake while another came in from behind to peck it on/around the head. They kept that up till the snake was dead but they still pecked at it, I guess they weren't taking any chances. That snake had 11 sections on its rattle. Our guineas roost in the coop with the chickens, right now there is two chicks/keets with two hens and a rooster so there is some challenge between the brown hen and her three chicks but there has been nothing tragic, we'll keep our early warning system and our ant free yard.

 

[Costa Rica Art]

Sometime I've wondered about when folks talk about not dumping their FF container each time they get feed for their flock does the calcium end up on the bottom and not getting enough to the chickens? I pour my FF from my fermenter into a strainer every day and notice that the calcium has settled to the bottom of the container in a very heavy PB like paste. I scrape that out on top of the rest of the FF which after it has drained for 30 minutes or so goes into the FF trough. What little that is left gets water added, stirred and poured into the next mash. I know there has been a discussion about calcium and I know that not only do I use what comes with the feed (4%) I add some extra on top of the mash in the trough.

 

[delisha]

I noticed that also and started adding cooked egg shells on top of the feed. I do not rely on FF for soul nutrition, so I am not that concerned, however it is a concern after deep snow. Less bugs and greens. I will supplement the chickens with more spinach and kale. I have two ducks on nests(stupid ducks who go broody in winter) and they are on spinach and kale anyway. The ducklings will also be on kale. One thing about FF and broody and sitting ducks. A duck sets a nest hard. They rarely get off except to gobble food and drink. They usually loose copious amounts of weight and they loose color around the caruncles(I have Muscovy's). With the FF they have kept better weight and color. I am so grateful. I was a bit worried about one hen. She hatched out 6 ducklings and began to set another nest in 10 days. First time that happened to me.

 

[Missa Chickabee]

Sometime I've wondered about when folks talk about not dumping their FF container each time they get feed for their flock does the calcium end up on the bottom and not getting enough to the chickens? I pour my FF from my fermenter into a strainer every day and notice that the calcium has settled to the bottom of the container in a very heavy PB like paste. I scrape that out on top of the rest of the FF which after it has drained for 30 minutes or so goes into the FF trough. What little that is left gets water added, stirred and poured into the next mash. I know there has been a discussion about calcium and I know that not only do I use what comes with the feed (4%) I add some extra on top of the mash in the trough.

My FF started to smell a bit off the other day. I looked into the bottom catch-bucket to see the drained-off fluid sitting sitting on top of sludge so thick it was like hardening cement. And it sort of stunk......not the sourish smell I've been getting from the ferment. It's probably because I've been doing half grains/half layer crumbles. But that layer is not getting a fresh supply of 'food' to ferment it at the bottom of that bucket so I think it's started to rot. Wondering if I should just use a single bucket to keep everything circulating to prevent the problem. Also did think about calcium when I saw that. Used to drain my home-made yogurt in a muslin or cotton cloth but it took awhile. Just a thought. Not even an opinion....yet.

 

[Leahs Mom]

My FF started to smell a bit off the other day. I looked into the bottom catch-bucket to see the drained-off fluid sitting sitting on top of sludge so thick it was like hardening cement. And it sort of stunk......not the sourish smell I've been getting from the ferment. It's probably because I've been doing half grains/half layer crumbles. But that layer is not getting a fresh supply of 'food' to ferment it at the bottom of that bucket so I think it's started to rot. Wondering if I should just use a single bucket to keep everything circulating to prevent the problem. Also did think about calcium when I saw that. Used to drain my home-made yogurt in a muslin or cotton cloth but it took awhile. Just a thought. Not even an opinion....yet.

I'm in the minority on this but.... I just do a single container and scoop some up and press it against the side to kind-of drain it. That way I get ALL LAYERS and the fertrel and powdery stuff gets mixed right in. Then when I add new to the bucket, I stir it altogether. I think "Pigeon" does his that way too. I don't even use a slotted or screened spoon/scoop...just a regular solid one, Scooping all the way to the bottom and lifting up then smashing it against the side of the container above the liquid.

Works for me!

 

[Kassaundra]

So I finally set up my 75 lbs feed bin (plastic garbage can). I do plan on setting it inside another, but didn't have a drill. They will eat that full container in 3 days. It was VERY hard to mix up..
If anyone does this, add water first, and mix in feed. It took me twice as long trying to reach the dry food at the bottom and mix in. Had to use my arm. Got it to a nice consistency. I'll have to keep mixing. Will be letting it sit until tomorrow evening.
Can you put too much ACV?

We use a shovel and more of an up and down w/ a twist motion, but we only ferment grains.